Devices have been developed for stretching and exercising the soft tissue surrounding the shoulder girdle and the back. A typical apparatus designed for stretching and exercising the tissues surrounding the shoulder and back is a device where a hand grip is grasped by the user and moved back and forth on an elongated rod against a resistive force. One variation to said device allows the rod to be pivotally connected to a support, allowing a variety of exercises. However, a problem encountered by using this type of apparatus to stretch the tissue surrounding the shoulder girdle and back is that the user's body is not properly stabilized. When the body is not properly stabilized, the user may substitute motions for those desired and the result may ultimately be harmful to the user.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,971,255 of Varney et al. discloses an exercise apparatus which is comprised of a housing and a shaft extending therethrough for frictionally resisted axial movement of the shaft relative to the housing. The housing includes adjustable braking means to allow the user to vary the level of resistance to such axial movement, and operatively associated with the shaft are readout means to indicate to the user in units of applied force the instantaneous level of resistance effective as the shaft is moved axially relative to the housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,621,043 of Olmstead discloses an exercise apparatus comprised of a moveable hand grip is slidable along an elongated rod, and can be manipulated in such a manner that during the back and forth movement of the hand grip, the resistive force to such movement is always under the control of the user and can be changed instantaneously. The device can be pivotally connected to a support to enable the user to perform a variety of exercises for conditioning the body.
Although the devices described in the patents named above allow for the stretching of the tissue surrounding the shoulder girdle and the back, one drawback is that they do not provided stabilization of the body to eliminate substitute motions. Without the proper stabilization of the upper extremities, the user may, through substitute motions, exercise or stretch in a manner which is counter-productive to their goals.
A shoulder flexibility device is needed that will properly stabilize the upper extremities and prevent substitute motions by the user. Such device should provide static counter force vectors which oppose the natural tendency for the user's elbows to abduct and shoulders to extend and internally rotate when there is tightness of specific muscles and connective tissue in the shoulder girdle and latissimus dorsi muscle. The device should stabilize the elbow and forearm in such a way as to allow the user to move into progressively greater degrees of shoulder flexion, adduction and external rotation. When used by a patient in physical therapy, the device should help restore the normal muscle and connective tissue length in the shoulders and back. The restoration of optimal scapulohumoral and scapulothoracic length-tension relationships will result in more ideal scapular motion during functional activity. This will in turn reduce the potential for shoulder girdle impingement, and therefore reduce the tendency for myofascial pain syndromes as well as bursitis, capsulitis and tendonitis.
An added benefit to an apparatus which enforces a stabilized position of the upper extremities is that it allows the user to concentrate on scapular motions which are necessary for full pain-free shoulder elevation with a reduced potential for impingement.
Another benefit of an apparatus which enforces a stabilized position of the upper extremities is that by moving the scapulae caudally with the upper extremities stabilized, a significant stretch occurs of the inferior joint capsule and muscles that extend the humerus relative to the scapula.